Blackbird
by kenwave
Summary: Bucky honestly should have expected this. He hasn't slept in over twenty four hours so why wouldn't some moron decide to play the guitar in the hotel hallway at 3am. Who even does that in the first place? An AU where Steve and Bucky meet in a hotel hallway by chance and create a friendship that lasts for years to come.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so I haven't written fanfiction in a long, long time so this is probably going to be a bit rusty. I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. It started off as something that was going to be a one shot but then it just started to grow larger and larger. I apologise for any mistakes.**

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Chapter One:

Honestly, he should have been expecting this considering the day he's been having. First, he misses his bus to the airport, then his flight gets delayed by four hours and he's stuck twiddling his thumbs for that length of time. To top it all off, halfway through his flight, he realises that he forgot his toothbrush in the small green plastic cup resting on the countertop in his washroom. So why wouldn't this happen to him?

Why wouldn't some douchebag decide to start playing their guitar at three in the morning?

Just as Bucky's about to finally drift off into a peaceful slumber, he's reawoken by a sour note in the middle of the intro to Blackbird. By this point, he can say that he's truly pissed off. He's been awake for over twenty four hours and this bastard is keeping him from finally getting some quality sleep. It's three in the morning for god's sake! Who the fuck plays the guitar in a hotel hallway at this time of night?! Why hasn't anyone called the lobby to complain about this?

If no one else is going to deal with this, then it looks like he's the one who has to. He groans loudly into his pillow and slowly gets out of his bed. He doesn't even bother checking his appearance, it's 3am, he can look as shitty as he wants.

He shuffles to the door, opens it, and leans against the doorframe. Sitting right in front of him is a Greek god of a man. He has blond hair that is cut short, and a shoulder to waist ratio that is to die for. He has strong arms, strong legs, fuck, everything about him screams that he's someone that you should not mess with because he can beat you into the ground.

The first thing that runs through Bucky's head when he sees him is 'oh no he's hot'. He suddenly forgets why he crawled out of his bed in the first place until he notices the acoustic guitar in the man's strong hands.

Bucky clears his throat, and the man with the guitar is shocked out of his trance. He looks up at Bucky with bright blue eyes and suddenly, Bucky feels bad for interrupting him.

"Can I help you?" he asks. He puts his acoustic guitar gently on the ground next to him. Bucky gulps and tries to summon the anger he was feeling a couple minutes earlier.

"Yeah, actually," Bucky responds while crossing his arms in front of him. "Your guitar playing is keeping me up."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I had no idea!"

"Uh huh. Then why were you playing it in the hallway in the first place?" Bucky asks. "Do you even know that hotel walls aren't soundproofed?"

The man in front of him looks up at him and grins sheepishly. Apparently he didn't actually know that almost everyone in the rooms around them can hear his guitar playing. "I didn't want to wake up my room mate. I'm still pretty jetlagged and, well, I got bored and thought I should practise my guitar playing."

"At 3am?"

The man laughs, "yeah, I can't say that it's the brightest idea I've ever had."

"No kidding," Bucky huffs. He closes his door and sits down in front of it, looking at the blond haired man. "I can give you some pointers, I used to play the guitar."

"You'd give some random guy who kept you up pointers on how to play the guitar?" the man asks, unsure.

"Yeah I would, especially if he messes up the intro to a beautiful song."

"Hey, I never said I was good at playing the guitar."

"Touché."

"I'm Steve Rogers by the way," the man introduces himself with a grin on his face.

"Bucky Barnes," Bucky responds in kind.

"Your parents named you Bucky?" Steve asks, his eyes widen in shock.

Bucky rolls his eyes, he was expecting Steve to say that when he introduced himself. Everyone says it. When he had been a child, no one had given it a second thought, but now that he's in his twenties, everyone questions the sanity of his parents. "No, my first name is James, it's a nickname."

"How do you get Bucky from James?" Steve asks, he looks a lot less shocked than he had a couple of seconds ago.

"My middle name's Buchanan." Steve breaks out laughing at this, trying his hardest to keep it from becoming too loud so none of the other hotel residents decide to interfere or call the police to report the weird laughing man in the hallway. Bucky just sighs. "Do you want me to give you some pointers or not?"

Steve finally stops laughing and takes large gulps of air, he had obviously been laughing so hard that he stopped breathing. "Okay, okay," he chuckles. "I'll stop."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Special thanks to castiality (on tumblr) for helping me figure out what to do in this chapter. All mistakes are my own, and I apologise for them.**

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Chapter Two:

After Bucky gives Steve some pointers, he falls asleep as soon as his head hits his pillow. Nothing else keeps him awake, and if the hotel had blown up while he's sleeping, he wouldn't know.

He wakes up well into the day and immediately regrets not asking for Steve's phone number, or skype, or something so he'll be able to keep in contact with him. Who knows if he'll ever see Steve again. Generally when he meets people while he's out of America and becomes friends with them, he never sees them again after that first meeting.

What's he even thinking, it even happens when he's in America.

The only person he manages to stay in contact with that he had met overseas is Natasha. They don't see each other in person all that often, but they do make an effort to visit each other on occasion. Sometimes for the holidays, sometimes the other just pops in for a visit. It's a bit unconventional, but it works, and Bucky is happy with the friendship that he has and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Bucky slowly gets out of bed and quickly changes his clothes. Maybe if he waits long enough and stares out the peephole, he'll eventually see Steve again and then he'll be able to ask for his contact info. He quickly decides to not do that because of how creepy it would appear to Steve to have someone who he just met suddenly pop out of the door as soon as he exits his own hotel room.

Bucky shakes his head. He's being completely ridiculous. He needs something to clear his thoughts and take his mind off of last night.

Coffee, he decides, coffee's always good. He wonders what type of coffee shops they have in Salzburg, it's one of the few places he hasn't been to before despite it pretty much being a music capital of the world. Ever since he was a child he's been interested in music. There's something about how personal it can be, how even if two people play the same song on the same instrument, it will be unique in its own way.

It's what lead him to learn how to play the guitar. Throughout middle school and high school he had been so devoted to that instrument, constantly playing it and improving. Bucky reflects on how he no longer plays it. How now it's only sitting propped up against the wall in his room, collecting dust. He wonders why he ever stopped playing, why he stopped doing something that is so important in his life.

He steps outside of the hotel and takes in a deep breath. He can't say that the air smells nice, crisp, and fresh, considering there always tends to be the lingering scent of sewage from times long past. It happens in a lot of the older cities.

The sky is grey with clouds, and it looks like it's going to start raining at any second. Mountains surround the busy Austrian town, some of them with pointed peaks with light dustings of snow along them, and others look like large, rolling hills. Bucky sees the fortress, standing proud while watching over the town and her people.

Across the street Bucky sees a Starbucks, the green sign standing proud against the white, baroque style building that the shop resides in. He decides that Starbucks is good enough for now, he can go to the other cafés while exploring Salzburg when he's less tired.

He enters the building and gets in the line. Luckily, it's not too long and he'll be able to place his order soon enough. Once it's his turn to order, he goes through the motions, gives the barista his name, pays them, walks off to the side, and waits for his name to be called. Standing next to him is a man who looks pretty exhausted. Despite this, the man doesn't look grumpy, and actually looks quite open to conversation.

Bucky stares at him, admittedly like a bit of a creep. The man looks familiar. He's unsure of where he's seen him before, but Bucky is sure that he's seen him somewhere.

"_Entschuldigung,"_ Bucky says to him in German. He decides to play it safe in case he's just losing it and he's actually speaking to some random Austrian citizen.

The man turns to look at him, and gives Bucky a somewhat confused look. "Uh, sorry man, I don't speak German." He has an american accent, so he's obviously an American tourist.

Bucky laughs. "Alright."

"Did you need something?" the man asks him. He still has an air of confusion around him and Bucky wonders if it's his mind that's just been playing tricks on him and he's actually never seen this man before in his life.

"Yeah, do we know each other? I feel like I've seen you before."

"No, I don't think so." The man looks at Bucky carefully. "But I've been told that I look like an actor. The name's Sam Wilson." Sam sticks out his hand and Bucky grasps it and shakes.

"Bucky Barnes," Bucky introduces himself. He notices Sam start to open his mouth and before any words come out of it, Bucky interrupts him. "Bucky is a nickname."

Sam laughs and smiles. "Okay, got it."

Sam walks up to the counter, having heard his name and picks up two coffees. Bucky hears his name called soon afterwards, grabs his cup, and takes a long sip. He practically moans into the coffee.

He glances over at the two coffee's that Sam is holding and sees the names 'the Falcon' and 'Captain America' written on them.

"What's with the names?" Bucky asks.

"Just something my friend and I came up with one Halloween. The names ended up sticking," Sam explains. They both walk out of the Starbucks together, Sam sipping out of the cup that is labelled 'the Falcon', and start walking towards the hotel Bucky is staying in together.

Neither of them say anything about this, they just continue walking together in silence, sipping their coffee. Bucky enters through the spinning doors of the hotel with Sam still beside him. Then it hits him, this is where he's seen Sam before. Not because he looks similar to some actor, but because Bucky saw him checking in last night while he was waiting for his turn.

"You're staying in this hotel?" Sam asks as they both climb into the elevator. Bucky doesn't bother responding, the fact that he's gotten in the elevator with the man seems like enough of an answer to him. Sam hits the button labelled '12' and asks Bucky which floor he's on.

"I'm on the same floor as you, apparently," Bucky answers.

Sam snorts. "Next thing we know is that we've actually been sharing the same hotel room this whole time."

"I don't think I was so out of it yesterday to not notice that there was another man in my room."

The elevator stops and they both climb out of it side by side. Sam finishes the last of his coffee and Bucky is impressed that he was able to drink it all too quickly without burning his mouth. The two of them walk down the hall together side by side until they reach their respective rooms.

Sam looks at Bucky curiously.

"What?" Bucky asks. "This is my room, you don't need to wait for me to go inside it or anything. No one is going to kidnap me in the time it takes for me to unlock the door."

"No, that's not it man. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get kidnapped."

"Then what's with the look?" Bucky quirks an eyebrow.

"It's just strange," Sam says and gestures between the door Bucky is about to unlock and the door that Steve had been leaning against last night. "Who'd think that a man that you meet in a Starbucks in a completely different country would be an American who's staying in the same hotel as you, on the same floor, and has a room right across the hall from you."

"You're staying in the room right across from mine?" Bucky's heart jumps inside his chest. This man is the room mate that Steve was talking about last night. The one that he didn't want to wake up with his guitar playing. Maybe if Bucky asks, Sam will be able to tell him when Steve's free so they could have another lesson, or even go out to find a nice little café and have a cup of coffee or tea together.

"Yeah. Dude, this is starting to get creepy."

Sam opens the door. Steve is standing inside the room with a glass of water in his hand about to take a sip from it. He doesn't move and is staring right through the door frame. Sam looks at him and then looks back to Bucky, who is staring right back at Steve. The two of them don't even seem to remember that Sam is even there.

Sam's eyes widen. "Oh. OH. I'm just gonna… get some more coffee and leave you guys to it."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. I'll try to update with chapter four before Friday before I leave for the weekend, but I can't guarantee anything. All mistakes are my own and I apologise for them.**

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Chapter Three:

Bucky blinks. Steve blinks right back at him.

"I think that's my coffee you have in your hand." Steve is the first to break the silence. He's also the first to look away and break the awkward staring contest that they were having.

"Oh, yeah!" Steve places his glass of water on the counter and walks towards the door. Bucky offers him the coffee labelled 'Captain America' and he takes it. As soon as the coffee is in his grasp, he takes a grateful sip.

Steve walks back into his hotel room and gestures for Bucky to come in as well. He doesn't even move the cup of coffee from his mouth while he's walking from the kitchenette close to the entrance of the room into the section with two queen sized beds.

The room is pretty similar to the room Bucky has across the hall, except for the extra bed and slight increase in the amount of space that it has. It has the same beige walls with the tastefully framed photographs of the local landmarks. Instead of the photograph of the Fortress that Bucky has in his room, Steve and Sam have a large photograph of the gazebo from the Sound of Music which hangs above the nice flat screen TV. The picture looks as if it had been taken in the spring, if the multitude of tulips in the black and white photo is anything to go by. The duvets on the bed both have the really tacky red and gold wavy stripes going on to match with the curtains. Bucky isn't sure how to feel about that touch.

"So, you know Sam?" Steve breaks the silence. He puts the presumably empty coffee cup on the end table between the two beds and sits down on the bed closest to the window.

"No. Actually it's a pretty weird story." Bucky chuckles and sits right next to Steve on the bed. He's still holding his unfinished Starbucks coffee in his left hand. He decides to put it next to Steve's for now. He doesn't know if he's going to finish it.

"I was at the Starbucks across the street." He looks at Steve and gestures towards his cup with his right hand. "I thought he looked familiar so I went and talked to him. It turns out he looks familiar because I've probably seen him wandering around the hotel considering we're staying in the same one. And it turns out he also happens to be the roommate you didn't want to wake up last night."

Steve turns to face Bucky and laughs. His eyes sparkle from the laughter and little laugh wrinkles appear at the corner of his eyes. "Do you normally go talk to anyone that looks familiar?" he asks.

"Yeah, got a problem with it Steve?" Bucky quirks an eyebrow and leans in close to Steve. Steve freezes and stares into Bucky's eyes, Bucky stares right back at him. The brunet man swallows thickly and his eyes flick down to Steve's pink lips and flick back up again to stare into happy sky blue.

Bucky quickly realises what he's about to do and looks away. He doesn't even know if Steve likes men, if he's in a relationship or not, or if he's even interested in Bucky. They just met, he doesn't want to drive Steve away. When was the last time he's had a friend other than Natasha? Just being friends with Steve will work for now.

He watches as Steve gets up from the bed and goes to throw out his empty coffee cup and feels something in his chest drop.

Before the silence can become awkward, the door slams open and Sam quickly rushes inside. "A man can only drink so much Starbucks coffee!" Sam says wisely before slamming the door to the bathroom shut.

"There's a bathroom in the Starbucks, why didn't you go in there?" Bucky asks.

"A man shouldn't have to pay to take a shit!" is the muffled response that Bucky gets. He cracks a smile and chuckles under his breath. Steve gives the bathroom door an exasperated look and rolls his eyes.

Soon enough, another silence descends upon the room. The only thing that can be heard is the sound of the fan coming from the washroom.

Steve wanders back to the couch and sits down beside Bucky again. This time, they both have a respectable amount if distance between them. The silence steadily becomes more awkward until Sam emerges from the washroom.

"Did I interrupt something?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Bucky was just telling me how you two ended up meeting," Steve answers.

"Uh huh." Sam gives them a disbelieving look.

Steve and Sam start to banter back and forth while Bucky listens to them, a smile on his face. The easy friendship that they have is much like the relationship he has with Natasha. The comfortable banter that seems almost like an old script and the gentle teasing, along with the ease that they have with one another.

Now that he's thinking about Natasha again, he should probably call her. She had told him to call once he had arrived just so she can make sure he didn't die doing something stupid on the way over. Oh no, it wasn't that she was worried that he would die in a plane crash. She was worried that he would die by tripping and falling into traffic because he was eyeing up someone attractive and not watching where he was going.

"I'm gonna go, guys. I have to make a call," Bucky interrupts their banter. He quickly stands up and before they can say anything else he leaves the hotel room, hearing 'goodbyes' as he goes.

He runs his hands through his short hair and takes out his cellphone from his pocket, flipping through his meagre list of contacts. His finger pauses over Natasha's name, the picture of her is one he took without her notice while they had been watching a dumb action movie with basically no plot. Her bright red hair is tied up in a messy bun and she's shoving popcorn into her face. To this day she doesn't even know that he had taken that picture and he hopes to keep it that way. Hell, for all he knew, she knows that he took that picture and she's just letting him think that she doesn't know. It can be tricky to tell with her sometimes.

He finally taps her name and brings the phone up to his ear, hearing it ring.

"I see you made it without dying," Natasha greets. Bucky rolls his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me, James."

"You can't even see me!"

"I might not be able to see you, but I do know you. And I know when you're going to roll your eyes at me," she tells him matter of factly.

"Fuck you, Nat."

"No thanks. I don't want to have sex with you."

Bucky rolls his eyes again. Leave it to Natasha to bring a smile to his face with her deadpan comments. She's one remarkable woman. She'd have to be in order to be his best friend, he realises that he's not the most easy person to become friends with. He'll admit that he is pretty easy when it comes to one night stands though, and isn't that a depressing thought.

"I wasn't actually expecting you to call," Natasha says. Bucky pictures her examining her - probably painted - nails. "So, what advice do you need?"

"What are you, psychic?" Bucky refuses to be shocked by anything Natasha says anymore, and at this point he knows that he has tells that Natasha can pick up on like it's her second nature.

"I might be."

Bucky huffs. "And yes, I do need your advice."

"Well at least you admitted it this time. Do I have to interrogate you or will you actually tell me of your own free will?" she jokes. Bucky huffs out a laugh.

"I may have fucked up," Bucky tells her.

"What did you do this time, James?" she asks exasperatedly.

"Something really stupid," he groans and faceplants into his pillow. The rest of his sentence comes out muffled.

"Speak clearer, I can't hear you with your head in fabric."

Bucky turns over in his bed and stares at the ceiling. "I have the stupidest crush. I don't know how it happened. It was 3am and he was playing the guitar, really _badly_ too." Bucky runs a hand down his face and takes a deep breath. "Instead of yelling at him I ended up giving him pointers."

Natasha 'tsks', but lets him continue.

"And I almost kissed him earlier when his roommate bailed on us and left us alone in their hotel room," Bucky groans.

"Wow, you have it really bad." Bucky can hear the grin in Natasha's voice.

"I know! I feel like a twelve year old girl with a huge crush. The thing is, I actually want to get to know him too. I don't want to have a one night stand with him."

"I should write this on the calendar. When was the last time you actually wanted to be in a relationship with someone? Hell, when was the last time you actually were in a relationship?"

"I think it was high school, but that's not the point. I have it bad. And we're probably never going to see each other again after this vacation." Bucky sighs. His last long term relationship really was when he was still in high school. That was a nightmare. After he had graduated, and after a horrendous break up, his mother had sent him to visit his aunt in Russia for a year to help sort himself out. And that's how he met Nat.

"Ask for his number."

"It's not that simple!" he can imagine her rolling her eyes at that statement.

"It actually is, James, believe it or not. Now go out, ask for his number, and then report back to me."

"Why would he give some random guy he met in Austria his phone number, Nat?"

"James, just do it." Bucky hears the dial tone as soon as she stops speaking and throws his phone in the direction of the armchair. It's not as easy as she's making it out to be, he's sure about it. This is completely different from having one night stands, this is the start of something. It's the start of something that could be big, or it could be the start of nothing. Or he gets rejected outright and never sees Steve again.

God, this is stupid.

He didn't even know it was possible for him to get a crush on someone this quickly. But, apparently it was.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter was such a pain to write. No one was doing what I wanted them to do RIP me. **

**Thank you for all the favourites and follows, I appreciate it a lot c:**

**All mistakes are my own and I apologise for them.**

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Chapter Four:

Bucky takes a couple of deep breaths and tries to gather his courage. He can do this. It's just asking Steve for his number. It's nothing too big. It's just a phone number.

Sure it's the first time since high school that he's shown any interest in dating someone. It's not like he hasn't dated at all before. He just has bad experiences in that field.

He isn't helping himself at all.

The worst thing that could happen is Steve refuses and then Bucky will have to get over him. Probably by going to a local bar and picking someone up. Either way, it won't be the end of the world.

Bucky decides that he'll leave Steve be for a while, he doesn't want to come across as being too desperate. He has some things to do in the meantime.

He walks over to his still packed bag the he placed at the foot of his bed and rummages around for something. His fingers wrap around a familiar shape and he pulls out the object, a smile on his face. He places the strap attached to the camera around his neck, and holds the camera in his left hand. He might as well take some photos while he's here and see if he can add them to his portfolio.

Bucky wanders down the old streets, keeping an eye out for something that would make a nice addition to his online gallery.

Being a photography has it's perks, sure, but most of the time he gets pretty bland work and doesn't have that much opportunity to take new photos. Most of the time he gets hired for weddings or large events, one time he had even been hired to photograph someone's one hundredth birthday. That one was actually an interesting job.

Mostly, he works for the newspaper. He can't complain, the newspaper does give him a lot of work, but it's not where he wants to be.

He eventually ends up taking pictures of the usual things, the gazebo, the mountains, some of the mansions that had been featured in the Sound of Music, and the Fortress. He does go up to the Fortress and take some pictures up there, and takes pictures of the cannons that are aiming out the windows.

As he's walking back to the hotel, the sun is setting over the horizon. Bucky realises that he hadn't eaten since the morning, and actually notices how hungry he is. How did he not notice his hunger? It surprises him sometimes how focussed he can get with his work. He can tune out the whole world if he tries hard enough. He thinks that in another life he'd probably be a great sniper.

Soon he's back at the hotel and sitting in the restaurant that's in it. Bucky notices a lot of the residents are with others, whether it be their family, friends, or significant others. It reminds him of how he actually doesn't have that many people in his life. He has his sister, but he doesn't talk to her very often, they might as well be strangers. He has his mother, he sometimes gives her the odd phone call but not all that often. And then there's Natasha. Really, the only constant in his life right now besides his job when he's not away.

He eats his food in silence occasionally checking his phone to see if he's gotten a text from Natasha, or an email from a potential client.

There's nothing.

He sighs and pays for his meal, heading back up to his room once the bill has been dealt with.

Bucky's fiddling with the key card, having issues unlocking his door, when he hears the door behind him open up. He turns around and sees Steve walk out with a bucket in his hand. Bucky raises an eyebrow at him.

"We need ice." Steve smiles sheepishly. "Were you wandering around Salzburg earlier? I knocked on your door in the afternoon and you weren't there."

Bucky laughs. "Yeah, actually. I was taking some photos." He lifts up the camera to show Steve.

He starts to feel anxious, suddenly thinking about what Natasha had told him earlier that day. He really did have to get Steve's number. He takes a deep breath and breathes out slowly, trying to calm his nerves. Steve is a nice guy, the worst he can possibly say is 'no'.

"You're a photographer?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, I only work for the newspaper though, nothing too special. I sometimes do weddings and birthday parties as well."

Steve nods. "Is it fun?"

"Sometimes." Bucky shrugs. "But mostly it's just doing the same thing over and over again. I'm not offered a lot of variety."

A silence descends upon them, the only thing that can be heard is the loud clunking of the ice machine down the hall. Bucky stares at his black combat boots with interest and decides that he should probably clean them sometime soon. There's mud caked on the soles and even on the shoelaces. He scuffs the toe on the carpeted ground just so he can move and for something to do.

Bucky takes a deep breath through his nose and breathes out slowly. "Hey, I was wondering if… why you knocked on my door earlier?" He cringes at how obvious he made it that he was going to ask something completely different. He hopes Steve didn't notice or chooses to ignore it.

Steve turns a light shade of pink and rubs the back of his neck. "Well I, uh, was wondering if you'd like to show me a few more pointers for the guitar? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to…"

"Yeah, I'd love to, Steve." Bucky smiles. "Do you want to do that now actually?"

"Sure, that'd be great! Just let me go get my guitar from my room and I'll be right with you." Steve hurries back into his room, his mission to go get some ice from the machine all forgotten. Bucky watches as Steve remembers that he has a bucket in his hand and turns around, smiling sheepishly at the brunet as he heads down the hall to gather the ice.

Steve rushes back to his room with the bucket, not seeming affected by the added weight of the ice. He puts down the ice on the counter and grabs his guitar from somewhere Bucky can't see.

"Ready?" Bucky asks him and raises an eyebrow.

Steve nods with a grin on his face. "Are we going to do this in the hallway again?"

Bucky snorts, remembering the fiasco from the other day. "Something tells me that I don't think the other hotel goers would appreciate it that much. Let's go into my room, then we won't have to bother Sam."

Steve laughs. "Yeah, I think he's trying to find something decent to watch on TV right now."

Bucky lets Steve into his hotel room, and sits on his bed, patting the space beside him. Steve accepts the invitation and sits crosslegged, adjusting the position of the guitar. Bucky notices how he's holding the guitar in his hands and takes them in his own, moving them into a more comfortable position.

Bucky plays Blackbird for Steve and then hands the guitar back to him. Their fingers brush against each other as the guitar is given back to its owner. Bucky gently moves Steve's fingers around to form chords, his fingers lingering over the blond man's for a bit too long.

Eventually, Steve's fingers start to hurt, not having built up the right calluses for playing an instrument with strings and they stop. They end up lying side by side on the bed watching weird German cartoons and coming up with their own dialogue for them.

Steve laughs once the credits start to roll for the third cartoon they had been watching and checks the time on the digital clock beside the bed. The bright smile on his face falls slightly.

"I can't believe it's already midnight," he says. "I should really head back to my room now. Sam and I need to pack up tomorrow morning and head over to Vienna for the next part of our trip."

Bucky's face falls. This could be the last time he ever sees the man.

Steve notices to look on Bucky's face and gives him a small smile. "I was thinking that we should exchange phone numbers since your lessons are pretty helpful, and it would be great to continue with them."

"Sure," Bucky responds. "I'd like that."

Steve's hand reaches into his pocket and trades his phone for Bucky's. As soon as his phone number has been entered, he hands it back and gives Bucky another smile. "I don't think I'll be able to text you while I'm still in Europe, but once I get back I'll let you know."

"Thanks! That'd be great." Bucky smiles.

He walks Steve to the door and shuffles his feet awkwardly. Steve scratches the back of his neck sheepishly.

"So, this is it," Steve says.

"This is it." For a lack of anything better to do, Bucky reaches out his hand to give Steve a handshake. The handshake goes on for far too long, they both turn red.

"Um… bye. For now." Steve gives Bucky a smile.

He smiles back at him and watches as Steve disappears behind his hotel room door.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter this time around. Again, thanks for all of the favs and follows, I appreciate it a lot c: It makes me happy to know that people enjoy this. **

**And, I may put this story on a brief hiatus as I am currently working on a one shot that is turning into a bit of a monster. Also, my last year of high school starts on Wednesday so I'll be focussing on my school work as well as writing. I'll try to post somewhat regularly once the one shot is complete, but I can't promise anything.**

**Cheers!**

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Chapter Five:

The rest of Bucky's vacation goes smoothly, although somewhat less fun than the first couple of days. He spends the majority of his time exploring all of the little shops in Salzburg. He buys some interestingly flavoured pretzels at the market and ends up eating a lot more gelato than he had originally intended.

He takes more pictures to add to his website and goes to see some small concerts. Although he does end up falling asleep in the middle of one. The heat radiating off of dozens of bodies that are in close proximity to each other in a dimly lit room doesn't help much to stay awake. Especially if the music happens to be soothing and seems to go on forever. Or maybe, Bucky's just tired and he's coming up with reasons to get out of the personal humiliation of falling asleep during a concert.

On one of the sunnier days, he goes for a walk that lasts hours. He doesn't have a destination in mind and he makes sure to leave his camera and cell phone back in the hotel room. He just walks and walks, taking his time and not thinking about a thing.

It's then when he ends up buying a really stupid souvenir for Natasha. All it is is broken, empty bottles of alcohol strung up together. Depending on where you put them up, they can catch the light and reflect it around the room.

Natasha enjoys alcohol and she enjoys random trinkets one can find while travelling. It's the perfect gift idea. Now he just needs to figure out when Natasha's going to be back in New York and then he'll be able to give it to her.

On the last day of his vacation, he ends up lounging around in his room watching TV.

Soon, he finds himself packing up the clothing he had thrown around the room in his laziness. He feels a bit bittersweet. It will be nice to go home and sleep in his own bed, but he'll miss it here too.

The flight back to the United States is uneventful. Bucky ends up falling asleep part way through it and sleeps dreamlessly. When he wakes up, they're mostly across the Atlantic and the flight attendants are handing out some food to everyone.

Once he's back in his small apartment, he has a hot shower and falls into bed, feeling extremely jetlagged. He falls asleep right away, cocooned in his bed sheets.

Natasha ends up calling Bucky the next day, informing him that she'll be dropping by in a couple of days with vodka. She tells him that he'd better tell her everything about Steve when she's there and threatens him with Clint's cooking if he doesn't.

It's not that Clint is a bad cook, he can cook fairly decently in fact. He just tends to experiment often with varying results. More often than not, a bad one.

Bucky spends the next couple of days adjusting to the time and by going grocery shopping to replenish the slowly rotting food he has in his fridge. He buys some tortilla chips and salsa for when Natasha comes over and some juice and pop to mix the vodka with. Unlike Natasha, Bucky has some trouble drinking straight vodka for the whole night.

He tidies up his apartment by actually putting his dirty clothes into the hamper rather than leaving them strewn all over. He vacuums the carpet and even ends up mopping the hardwood floor in the kitchen.

He's become a lost cause by resorting to cleaning for something remotely entertaining to do.

Natasha turns up three days after Bucky returns from Salzburg. She has a sly grin on her face and is holding up the vodka in her right hand. Her shoulder length red hair is perfectly curled and she's wearing the arrow necklace that Clint had gotten her for her birthday.

"Wow, did you actually clean your apartment?" She raises an eyebrow at him, grin still on her face.

Bucky gives her an unamused look. "I was bored."

"Sure, sure." Natasha waves the hand that isn't holding the vodka at him offhandedly. She takes off her shoes and makes herself at home on the couch, kicking up her feet onto the coffee table. "Tell me about him."

"Why do you even want to know?"

"I need to make sure if this guy is good for you or not. And whether or not I need to threaten him," Natasha answers.

Bucky sighs. Before he answers her, he goes into the kitchen and grabs the glasses and snacks. "His name is Steve. He's blond and pretty much looks like one of those Greek sculptures. He sucks at guitar, which you already know." Natasha snickers. "But he seems like a cool enough guy."

Natasha takes one of the glasses from Bucky's hand and fills it halfway with vodka. She takes a swig before responding. "Sounds like quite a guy if he managed to get your attention, James. You got his number, right?"

"Yes, after a whole lot of pain."

She snorts into her glass knowing fully what he means. "Drink up," she says and takes the empty glass from Bucky and pours a generous portion before handing it back to him.

Bucky accepts the vodka gratefully, and gulps it down.

They spend the rest of the day in silence after that, progressively getting more and more drunk. But by the time the sun has set, they're both enraptured in making the other do increasingly dangerous stunts, seeing who will out dare the other.

"I dare you," Natasha says, sounding suspiciously sober, "to knock on your neighbour's door and if they answer, go inside and take something of theirs without asking."

"Jesus, Nat. Are you trying to get me arrested?" Bucky, on the other hand, is slurring his words together and is beginning to sway back and forth.

"Hm, maybe." She licks salsa off of her fingers.

Bucky huffs and stands up from his place on the couch too quickly, nearly falling face first into the snacks that happily take up residence on the coffee table. As soon as he regains his impaired balance, he stumbles towards the door and makes his way to the apartment next to his.

He knocks loudly on the door and in no time, an irritated looking woman opens it. Her brown hair is in disarray and there are dark circles underneath her eyes.

"What do you want," she demands.

Bucky realises that despite the fact he has lived in the building for five years, he still doesn't know the names of any of his neighbours.

"Nothing," he answers her with a charming smile plastered on his face. "Just doing a favour for my friend."

Before the woman can say anything in response, Bucky pushes past her and enters her apartment. He marches into the kitchen, which seems quite run down, and raids her cupboards.

The first cupboard he opens has bowls of various sizes stacked on top of one another. Bucky locates the largest bowl and takes it from the bottom of the stack. As soon as it's safely in his grasp, he hightails it out of there. He doesn't hear the woman's angry shouts because he's already made it safely back into his own apartment and offers his prize to a grinning Natasha.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: That one shot I was writing ended up not becoming a one shot because it was starting to get too long, so have chapter 6! Thanks again for all of the favs and follows! **

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Chapter Six:

When Bucky finally regains consciousness, he realises two things. One, his head is currently resting on something soft and squishy; and two, it feels as though someone's trying to jackhammer his skull open. He attempts to open up his eyes, but the bright sunlight makes it a chore more than anything else. He resorts to covering his eyes with his hands and slowly starts to open them.

He eventually manages to complete the arduous task of opening his eyes and rolls off of the couch and onto the floor with a grunt. Bucky turns to the couch looking pathetically at Natasha who stares at him with a completely unamused look on her face.

"I was wondering when you were going to get up, you were starting to crush me." She slowly gets up from the couch and stretches like a cat, her arms up in the air above her head and he legs over Bucky.

"Wha - ?" Bucky mumbles, not moving from his place on the floor.

"You were sleeping on top of me, James."

Bucky blinks at her. The memories he has of last night are hazy at best. He vaguely remembers showing something Natasha and promptly passing out on top of her. He wonders how Natasha was able to deal with him falling asleep on top of her but she probably just ended up using him as a human blanket.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

She shrugs. "You were keeping me warm."

"Why do I even hang out with you again?" Bucky asks and rolls over so he's face down on the floor. His head is still pounding and every sound Natasha makes when she moves from the couch to the kitchen sends a sharp pain right through it.

He's insanely jealous of how Natasha never seems to get hangovers no matter how much she seems to drink. In Bucky's opinion, it's just not fair.

He lets out a self pitying groan and rolls across the floor slowly. Of course that's when Natasha walks back into the living room with a cup of coffee in each of her hands. She raises an eyebrow at him but doesn't say anything.

The rich smell of coffee reaches Bucky's nose and he stops his slow journey across the living room floor. He sits up and reaches out his arms, making grabby motions with his fingers. Natasha rolls her eyes at him but humours him anyways by walking over and handing him one of the two mugs of coffee. He takes it in his hands, holding it gently, and inhales deeply, the strong smell already making him feel somewhat better.

He takes a swig of the amazing liquid of the gods, not bothering to wait until it cools. It burns his tongue, but he thinks it's worth it in the long run.

Bucky places his coffee on the ground next to him and lies back down quickly. His head whacks against something hard and round and he yelps as he curls in on himself and cradles his head in his hands.

Natasha attempts to stifle a laugh at the sight in front of her, but fails. She nudges his leg with her socked foot and receives a high pitched whine in response.

"I see you found the bowl," she says with a grin on her face. Bucky slowly looks up at her and glares.

"Why didn't you tell me there was something behind me!"

Natasha just shrugs at him while taking a sip of her coffee. "That's what you get for drinking so much last night."

"You drank just as much as I did, if not more!"

"I was born and raised in Russia, alcohol practically flows right through my veins."

"Fuck you, Nat," he groans. He turns around to glare at the offending object that seemed to have appeared overnight. "Where did that even come from?"

He really doesn't remember much of last night, but he thinks that he would remember somehow purchasing a bowl and then bringing it back to his apartment. That bowl on the ground in front of him is definitely one that he has never seen before in his life. He doesn't remember someone giving it to him or ever seeing it in his kitchen.

"Do you really not remember?" Natasha asks. She sits down on the floor in front of Bucky and moves his coffee out of the way so he doesn't end up spilling it. Bucky gives her a grateful smile, well, he attempts to since his head still feels like someone is trying to crack it open.

"No, where'd that bowl come from?" he asks again.

Natasha smirks at him with a sparkle in her eye. "Last night we were daring each other to do things and I dared you to take something from the neighbour without asking. You stole their bowl and brought it back to me. You looked so proud of yourself too, it was cute."

Bucky gives her a blank look, alternating between staring at her and staring at the bowl he had moved from behind him to now being in his lap.

"I should probably return that, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah."

Bucky sighs heavily and takes another swig from his rapidly cooling coffee. He clumsily gets to his feet, the bowl still within his grasp, and turns towards the door. "Do you remember which neighbour I took it from?" he asks, giving the door a bewildered look.

Natasha thinks for a moment. "The one that we never see."

Bucky turns towards the left wall and nods. He knows exactly which neighbour the redhead is talking about. As soon as someone new had moved in, Bucky had started giving Natasha texts documenting what he had seen of his new neighbour, it ended up not being much at all. But it was still fun to send ridiculous texts like that to her, it made him feel like he was a spy keeping tabs on his next target.

He takes a deep breath and heads towards his neighbours apartment. He really hopes that they doesn't hold a grudge against him for taking their bowl. He knocks on the door lightly, hoping that maybe they won't hear and he could just leave the bowl in front of it with a note.

Before Bucky can turn around and head back to his apartment, the door opens. Standing there is the woman from last night and the memories of him taking the bowl come rushing back to him. He smiles at her sheepishly and holds out the bowl for her to take it back.

"Sorry about that," Bucky apologises.

The woman crosses her arms in front of her, looking guarded, and gives him a dirty look. "Decided to give me back my bowl, did you?" she asks him, a harsh tone in her voice.

Bucky laughs nervously. "Yeah. I was kind of smashed last night and my friend dared me to see if I would be able to take something from one of my neighbours."

The woman stares at him, completely unamused. Bucky takes one of her arms gently in his own so he can put her bowl into it, but she flinches back away from him. Bucky promptly lets go of her and apologises for being out of line. He resorts to walking around her and placing the bowl next to the shows placed neatly by the door.

"Sorry," he apologises again. The woman looks like she wants to curl in on herself and Bucky wishes he had never touched her arm. He slowly makes his way back to his door and looks back at her, the door is still open and she continues to stand there, staring at her feet, her arms wrapped around herself protectively.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I had to beat this chapter out of me. For some reason it didn't want to form. Again, thank you for all of the follows and favourites. This story has not been beta read so all mistakes are my own and I apologise for them. **

**A big thanks to my friend Alexis who helped me whenever I went to her complaining about how I got stuck in the middle of the chapter.**

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Chapter 7:

Bucky's lying on his bed when his phone vibrates aggressively on the bedside table. He doesn't bother to take his eyes away from the comic he holds in his hands. Before Natasha had left he told her to text him as soon as she returned safely at home. He knows nothing bad would have happened to her, she's a tough woman, but he can still be a bit protective of her at times like she is of him.

Eventually, he finishes the issue in his hands and carefully puts it away in a protective sleeve. As soon as Bucky deems it safe enough, he grabs his phone in his left hand and checks the time and his messages. He's surprised to see a message from a contact he honestly wasn't expecting to hear from.

A message notification and the name Steve Rogers in small letters underneath it appears proudly on the bar along the top of his screen. Bucky's finger hovers hesitantly over top of the message, his mind racing. For all he knows, Steve could be turning him down and telling him it was all a mistake, he had been thinking too hastily and that they should just delete each other as contacts and pretend nothing had ever happened.

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, deciding that he has nothing to fear from a message on his phone. He taps the message notification and finally opens his eyes when he's sure he's given his phone enough time to load it.

'_Hey,'_ Bucky reads. '_It's Steve, from that hotel in Salzburg? I told you that I would text you when I got back to America, and, well, I'm back. I was wondering how we could continue with the guitar lessons because I would like to have you continue teaching me, but I don't know how close we are to each other or how it would really work. So, I was thinking what if we did them over skype? It wouldn't be the most convenient, but it would work. Sorry if you don't want to talk to me again, I just wanted to let you know!'_

Bucky can't keep the smile off of his face as he reads through the text the first time and goes back to read it a second. He bites his lower lip to reign the smile back in but he fails miserably. He quickly types out his response and lays back down on his bed. He doesn't have anything else planned for the rest of the day, he can be as lazy as he wants. He's also grateful that Natasha isn't here to pester him about smiling at his cell phone like a lovestruck moron.

'_i'm glad ur still interested in lessons, i thought i wasn't going 2 hear from u again! skype would work fine, i have an account and everything. i can bring out my guitar 2 show u some stuff that can help.'_

He doesn't bother to wait around to receive a response from Steve, that would be pushing it, even for him. Despite the fact that Bucky is interested, he isn't going to act completely gone. He opens his closet and pulls out the old guitar resting under a pile of his clothes he never bothered to hang back up once it had fallen to the ground.

Soon enough, he's liberated his much loved guitar from its prison of clothing. It looks a bit rough, but that's probably because of its age. The guitar is an acoustic with a light finish, it's nothing special or expensive considering how long he's had it for and when he originally bugged his mother to get him one, she didn't think he would continue playing it for more than a year.

Bucky's phone buzzes again and he snatches it up, unlocking it quickly.

'_Don't laugh, my friend made my skype account for me! The username is star-spangled-man.'_

Bucky snorts unattractively and thinks again that he's so grateful that Natasha has already gone home.

He quickly grabs his laptop from underneath his bed. He boots it up quickly and waits as it makes slightly worrying noises. By the time it's finished turning on, Bucky has already gone into the kitchen and back again to get himself a glass of water and a snack. He sits cross legged on top of his bed and logs into skype. A couple of notifications pop up telling him he has a couple messages from some people. He hadn't bothered checking skype since he's gotten back to America and he thinks he probably should have done it already.

Instead of looking at his messages, he types in the username Steve had given him and sends him an invite. He includes in the automatic message that it's Bucky who is messaging him and that he's not just some random guy from the internet who thinks the amount of friends he has in his contact list reflects his value as a person.

Bucky transfers the pictures he had taken in Salzburg to his computer and starts to edit the colours on them slightly. His website has been neglected lately and he really needs some more clients. He isn't low on cash or anything, he just appreciates having the work to do. Taking photographs for the paper can sometimes give him a lull in work and if he didn't do anything, he'd probably end up sitting in front of the TV marathoning whatever dumb sitcom was on and complaining about it to no one.

He eventually uploads the best pictures he had taken on his vacation to his website and updates some of the information.

It's then when he hears the squeaky noise that indicates that he's received a message on skype. He clicks on the little blue icon pinned onto the taskbar and the page opens to the window he had sent Steve the invitation message on.

'_Hey :),'_ Bucky reads. He shakes his head. Of course Steve would be one to use smileys in his messages.

'_hey,'_ Bucky types in response, a small smile on his face. He doesn't have to wait too long for a reply. As soon as he opens up his website again, he hears the squeaky sound of a skype notification.

'_I thought my skype name was weird, but winterschildren tops mine. Where did you come up with that?'_ Steve asks him. Bucky isn't sure if he's actually intrigued about where he came up with the name or if he's being teasing about it. It's one thing he doesn't like about instant messaging and texting, you can't tell what someone's intentions are a lot of the time.

'_i don't even know where i came up with that. i was wondering if u would like 2 do a skype call tho, i prefer talking face to face,' _Bucky sends. He hopes he isn't being too forward, but he does miss Steve's face. And voice. And his smile, and laugh.

He just misses Steve altogether. It's difficult to have a long distance friendship, but it's worth it in the end, he thinks.

'_Yeah, I'd love to!' _Steve sends in response to Bucky's suggestion. Bucky feels some anxiousness that he had felt building up ease. A grin breaks out across his face as he clicks on the video call button and waits for Steve to accept.

He doesn't have to wait too long before Steve's face appears on his screen, a smile on his face that seems to light up the room.

"Hey," Steve says, his smile becomes more shy.

"Hi." Bucky continues to grin. He adjusts the laptop and leans back against the headboard of his bed. Might as well get comfortable now before he gets too wrapped up in conversation. "How's your guitar playing going, Steve?"

Steve laughs. "Well, I can't say I've really been practising. I've been too busy with travelling around with Sam and getting settled back at home. I did have time to get some sketches done." He scratches the side of his nose, eyes looking off to the side slightly.

"I can't believe you Steve, you should be ashamed of yourself," Bucky jokes. "Sketching instead of practising the guitar. But more importantly, you're an artist?"

Steve shrugs. "I guess so. I didn't go to school for it or anything, it's more of a hobby."

"That's pretty cool! I have some basic knowledge about art things, but I can't really draw to save my life. I don't know how I managed to pass that art course I needed to get into the Photography program," Bucky tells him. He'll admit that he's great with composition, but he just doesn't have the ability to draw what he sees.

"You should show me some of your photographs sometime," Steve says enthusiastically.

"Only if you show me some of you art."

Steve sighs. "Fine, I'll see what I can do."

"I'm sure your art is great, pal, you shouldn't be embarrassed about showing it to me. I used to be so embarrassed about showing people my photographs at first, as ridiculous as that sounds."

"No, it doesn't sound ridiculous. Photography can be personal to, it's like showing people how you see the world, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, if you put it that way."

"How is the photography business doing anyway?" Steve asks. "Because a lot of people take pictures with their phones and stuff so it seems like professionals aren't needed as much anymore."

"Don't get me started on this, Steve," Bucky groans. "I could talk about this topic all day if you let me."

The blond laughs at him, the laugh that shows the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes. Bucky's eyes soften at the sight. Steve really is something else. He hasn't even known him too long and he already knows that Steve is special.

"Alright, I'll subject myself to that rant at a later date then." That makes Bucky feel something inside him swell a bit knowing that Steve would want to talk to him again after this. It's good that he would want to, that'll let them to get to know each other more. And that is something Bucky definitely wants. He wants to know everything about Steve; his favourite colour, his favourite food, a food he absolutely can't stand, a bad movie that he adores, anything.

"So Steve," Bucky says and adjusts his position on the bed so he can feel his legs again. "You should tell me about yourself."

Steve smiles at him, a slightly mischievous look to it. "Not unless you tell me about yourself first."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry about the wait. I was caught up with a bunch of school work, a lot of projects were due last week. I was also having some difficulty with this chapter. All mistakes are my own and I apologise for them.**

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Chapter 8:

Bucky rakes his brain for something to tell Steve about him. He obviously can't tell him about high school, it was a rough time for him and probably thousands of other people. He could tell him about his time in Russia, he supposes, but he was a bit of a mess then as well. He watches as Steve shuffles in his seat, awkwardly waiting for Bucky to start speaking. There really was no way he could tell Steve about himself without making himself seem pitiable. There was only one thing left for him to do. Lie.

"Uh, well." Bucky clears his throat. "I guess I was a pretty good student. Never got in trouble. Took a lot of photos." It wasn't too far from the truth, he was generally a good student and he did take a lot of photos, but that wasn't all of it.

"I can't say my high school experience was as normal as that."

"No?"

"Nope. And don't think that amount of information about yourself will make me open up about myself."

Bucky snaps his finger. "Damn, you saw right through my plan." Steve laughs.

Crap, Bucky thinks. Apparently a little white lie isn't going to do. He honestly has no idea what to tell Steve. He thinks back on his time in art school, but it was mostly a blur of taking a lot of pictures and sex. He didn't think his life had been that boring but apparently it was.

"College was a lot more fun," Bucky lies. Steve stares at the webcam with the utmost focus, hanging onto Bucky's every word. "I got to study in England for a bit, saw the Stonehenge and met some interesting people."

Steve's eyes light up at the mention that he had met some interesting people. "I have a friend in England!" he says excitedly. "We used to go out, it didn't last but we parted on good terms and still talk occasionally."

"Yeah?" Bucky laughs nervously.

"Yeah! Where in England did you study?"

He can feel the blood drain from his face as soon as Steve asks the dreaded question. Sometimes he wonders how he was able to get as far in life as he had gotten since this just proves to him how impulsive he is. He scratches his foot lightly, thinking about the different places in England that he can possibly get away with saying he's been to.

Weirdly enough, it's one of the countries he hasn't been to at all. Bucky's never had the impulse to hop on a plane and fly there, he's always preferred going to countries where they don't speak English.

The excitement that's painted across Steve's face soon disappears after a couple of minutes of Bucky not responding. Bucky knows in that moment that the blond has figured out that he's been lying to him.

"You didn't study in England did you?"

"No." Bucky can't meet Steve's eyes when he answers him. He doesn't want to see the disappointment that is surely on his features. He shifts in his seat, acting much like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Before the silence can get too awkward, Steve asks "Why did you lie, Buck?"

All Bucky can do in response is shrug. "I don't think my life has been interesting, I didn't want you to think I'm boring."  
"I could never think that, Buck. I barely know you and you're already a pretty interesting guy. I met you in Salzburg of all places, if anything, that means you travel and everybody thinks travellers are great," Steve tells him. Bucky hesitantly looks up directly into the webcam. He does owe it to the man to tell him the truth.

Bucky takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. He may as well tell Steve everything then. He feels bad for lying to him when the blond has been nothing but kind to him. Bucky thought he was over what happened to him in high school, but now he thinks that it isn't quite true. The fact that he wanted to lie to make himself seem like a bigger person just seems to prove it to him. He thinks that he maybe should tell someone about it, someone who doesn't really have much of a connection to him.

"Okay. I owe you the truth."

"If it's something you don't want to talk about, you really don't have to!"

"No, it's okay. I need to tell you."

Steve snaps his mouth shut and stares at his screen intently.

"Guess I should probably start with high school. The first couple of years of high school were pretty good. I was a pretty good student, I wasn't actually lying about that, but I did get in trouble quite a bit."

**X**

"Back in detention again, Mr. Barnes?" Bucky shuffles uncomfortably in his seat. He'd already been sitting in it for roughly half an hour before the teacher in charge of the detentions decided to show up. He didn't bother to answer him, he knew by now that one wasn't supposed to speak in detention. The first couple of times he had been stuck in one, he had made that mistake and the teacher had just given him another.

So, Bucky dutifully remains silent as the teacher 'tsks' and sits at his desk at the front of the room. He stares at the blackboard in front of him, having nothing better to do. He twiddles his thumbs and eventually ends up falling asleep. He's woken up by the door opening noisily and a student stomps inside. Bucky looks up from his arms and eyes the newcomer wearily. He's never seen him around before so he must be new, he concludes as the guy takes the seat behind him. The newcomer slings his backpack off from over his shoulder and it lands on the floor with a loud thud.

"Finally decided to join us, Mr. Rumlow?" the teacher asks the new guy with a raised eyebrow. Rumlow snorts and kicks his feet up onto the desk.

"I had other things to do."

Bucky groans into his hands when the teacher doesn't scold him for speaking out. Of course it's just Bucky that the man has it out for.

The clock hits five and Bucky collects his things, quickly making his way out of the room. The teacher and Rumlow stay behind, so he has to walk through the empty halls of the school by himself.

His parents are working at this time so he walks home on his own, kicking pebbles as he goes. Soon enough, he turns onto his street and unlocks the door to his house, making it inside and slumping down on the couch. He has nothing to do so he flips through the tv channels finding something to watch. He would call one of his friends, but they're all busy, each of them seeming to have a significant other while he's left at home with nothing better to do than his own schoolwork.

Yeah, you could say that he's jealous of them.

**X**

"So you spent a lot of time being jealous of your friends who were getting some?" Steve asks in the middle of Bucky's story. Bucky laughs.

"Yeah, you could say that. When I wasn't being jealous I was in detention because I ended up defending people who were too weak to stand up for themselves. For some reason I was always the one to get blamed for the fights that happened."

There's a glint in Steve's eyes at that.

"What?" Bucky asks. "What's with that look?"

Steve laughs. "I used to get into a lot of fights when I was younger. I'd stand up for those who weren't able to do so, and anytime I would see someone being disrespectful or calling someone a name I would call them out on it. Being pretty scrawny then, I was a pretty easy target."

Bucky frowns. "Well, if we'd gone to the same high school I'd've protected your scrawny ass," he huffs. Steve laughs at that.

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**A/N: We'll be hearing more about Bucky's past at a later date. Same with Steve's.**


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